Scientists Find Traces of Lakes on Mars

They were found in the area of Hellas Planitia, an impact basin located in the southern hemisphere of Mars

uatv

03.11.2018

Photo from Ukrinform–UATV

Scientists have identified the traces of three different sets of ancient lakes on Mars, Space.com reports with reference to a paper published in the Astrobiology journal.

Some of them are nearly 50 miles or 77 kilometers across.

The lake beds were found in the area of ​​Hellas Planitia, an impact basin located in the southern hemisphere of Mars.

Each lake set was formed differently. One set was formed by precipitation. The other one was filled up with water flowing through the Martian soil, and another by rivers moving across the surface.

“These hundreds-of-meters-wide channels cut across widespread ash-laden volcanic lava and impact-debris terrains across the interior slope of Hellas basin,” said Virginia Gulick, a geoscientist at the SETI Institute.

If the sets were close to a heat source, they may have been habitable.

Many of their features resemble those known on Earth. For example, one temporary lake resembles a feature in eastern Washington formed by a catastrophic flash flood. Another looks more like features along the Mississippi River, where water has flown for centuries.

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